Home is where the art is: Brits’ lockdown interior renovations revealed

At Vlaze we are always interested in the latest trend reports and with 2020’s lockdown forcing Brits to spend more time at home than ever before, a fascinating new survey from Tiles Direct reveals how homeowners got creative with their interiors (and exteriors) this year.

 The online tile retailer asked over 400 Brits* if and where they’d donned their overalls and whipped out their paint rollers this year.

Of those surveyed, just 7.8% hadn’t redecorated or renovated any room of their home – suggesting that homeowners have been unable to endure lockdown in outdated or off-trend interiors.

The great outdoors

 Accounting for 29.2% of the overall vote, the garden came out on top as the most popular spot for home renovations this year. Here at Vlaze we certainly found this to be true with both our Adapt Outdoor Kitchen units and Charnwood Fire Balls selling very well.

With the UK’s nationwide lockdown lasting from 16th March to 1st June 2020, this data comes as little surprise – with the sunny weather leaving cooped-up homeowners desperate for a taste of the great outdoors.

Garden renovations were most popular among 25-34 and 35-44 year olds – the demographics most likely to have younger children – and with some schools being shut for as long as 7 months throughout 2020, who can blame them?

No place like home

Stepping through the front door of Brits’ homes, the living room was the next most popular spot for a little interior design TLC, with 28.4% of respondents revitalising their living room in 2020. We saw an increase in sales for our fireplace products such as heat shields and hearth plates as did our sister company Charnwood for their wood-burning stoves.

Homeowners weren’t struck with inspiration from the off, though – instead turning to the internet, with living room related searches being among the most commonly searched interior-based keywords in Google this year.

Taking the third and fourth spots were kitchens and bedrooms, accounting for 19.5% and 19.8% of the vote respectively. With a mammoth 46.6% of the UK workforce working from home in April, and current government advice continuing to encourage flexible home working wherever possible, we’ve seen these rooms serve as part-time living spaces and part-time office spaces.

With this in mind, it’s little surprise that home workers have chosen to transform these interiors into something a little more inspiring.

Towards the end of 2020 we launched our stove pods in collaboration with Charnwood: a quick-to-fit instant fireplace incorporating a Vlaze lined chamber and hearth. We were taken by surprise at the popularity but are subsequently discovering that many of these sales are for home offices and sheds and cabins situated in the garden.

With 16.5% of the vote, the bathroom was still a relatively popular spot for home renovations in 2020, with concerns surrounding hygiene racing up the list of Brits’ DIY priorities. This is an area that again we have seen an increase in with shower and wetroom panelling

The dining room was the least popular room for redecoration this year, accounting for just 12.4% of the total vote. With social distancing guidelines still in place and household mixing continuing to be discouraged or banned, one of the home’s main social hubs was unsurprisingly shown little love this year.

The lockdown lowdown

 Tiles Direct also analysed their top 500 site searches in 2020 to identify the most in-demand tile types of the last year and pinpoint common themes surrounding users’ choice of colour and material or finish.

Colours threw up some surprises, with homeowners opting for bright and vibrant shades over timeless and traditional with pink, green and blue topping the list. Classic white still faired well which remains one of our staple colours in enamel.

Luxurious longevity was the name of the game when it came to materials and finishes with Terrazzo finishes among the top 5 – not a dissimilar finish to that of our popular enamel splatter.

*This data was gathered in December 2020 and includes responses from 409 people in the UK.